University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Bower Pleased With Second Day Of Practice
8/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Bower Pleased With Second Day Of Practice HATTIESBURG, Miss.
The freshmen and invited walk-on players were kept separate from the varsity for the second-consecutive day, as the new players continue to get acclimated to the Southern Miss schemes. The first full team practice will be Friday.
Head Football Coach and 2003 Conference USA Coach of the Year Jeff Bower said he is pleased with the early results from practice.
"We?re working and doing some things better," Bower said. "We?re concentrating on practicing with great effort and doing the little things right. I didn?t like the effort in the team session today, and we need to pick that up tomorrow."
Bower said the coaching staff has a good start on the installation of the schemes, and that more will follow in the upcoming practices.
"We?re going to keep installing things and being repetitious in what we?re doing," Bower said. "We?re going to install some more things with the kicking game. Overall it?s going well."
Bower also said the team is healthy so far except for a few minor injuries. Senior defensive end Chad Ruffin tweaked his hamstring and will be limited during practice. Redshirt freshman Jared Parten is still recovering from shoulder surgery and won?t participate in any drills until classes start Aug. 23. Redshirt sophomore John Archie had surgery to repair an injury to his knee and will be out until late in the season.
Southern Miss opens its season at Nebraska, Sept. 11, in a nationally televised 11 a.m., game on ABC, before opening its home schedule the following Thursday, Sept. 16, against California in, a 6:30 p.m., game on ESPN.
